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This is one of the main Christian pilgrimage destinations in Israel, maybe in the entire world. Together with the Church of Nativity in Bethlehem. Being such an important place it is shared by endless number of Christian churches. Except for the protestant churches, which believe Jesus was burried elsewhere, you can find all the others here: Armenian, Greek-Orthodox, Syrian, Coptic, Ethiopian, Roman-Catholic and many more. There is an endless number of stories about the church its internal politics. Before entering the church, look up. You will see a ladder in one of the windows. This was put there when the window got broken. Only this act caused a diplomatic crisis. If one cult will fix the window it will be like admitting this cult is the owner of the church. So, work was stopped and the arguments started. Even the Pope had to get involved. In the church, there is little chapel which is completely burnt. It looks like a cave as it completely black. this is the Syrian chapel. It caught fire from one of the candles, but they couldn't get permission to restore it. so, they had to keep praying in a burnt chapel. Another great story is the one about the Ethiopian and Coptic monks, see about it in the Ethiopian Village tip. Because of all of this, there is a tradition that the person in charge of the church key is not Christian but Muslim. There is a very old Jerusalem family who are in charge of the key. The responsibility is passed from father to son. Each morning thisMuslim person comes and open the church and each evening it comes to close it. In the photo, you can see the people kissing the floor. The marble plate they are kissing is believed to be the rock where the body of Jesus was put after he was brought down from the cross. Directions: Old City Jerusalem
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| | | | The Church of the Holy Sepulchre: Does this reflect us? | Tip Rating: | | | | |
This is not going to make me a whole lot of friends, but I have to admit that I consider myself a devout Christian, and I can barely stand the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. The thing that really makes my stomach turn is the way it is divided up into a dozen little pieces, each belonging to a different "brand" of Christians. It also tends to be dark, stuffy, and crowded - and so has lost virtually all sense of the original hillside outside the city where the cruxifiction took place. With that having been said, however, it is a place that every Christian has to see while in Jerusalem - I mean, how could you ever admit to the people back home that you'd skipped it? Plus, after many times strolling through the church while I lived in Jerusalem, I developed an appreciation for what it has become. Originally built by Constantine's mother, Helena, in the 300s AD, probably billions of people have streamed through it over the centuries. The wall along the stairs down to where Helena "found the true cross" is covered in tiny crosses that the Crusaders etched there. When you kneel to touch the rock, you are kneeling in exactly the same place where heads of state, religious leaders, rock stars, pilgrims, millionaires, students, nuns, businessmen, crusaders, traders, soldiers, and many more have knelt. I do think there is something special about that. If you can find time to go when it's not packed with hordes of tourists, it also has a strange kind of peace to it. I once managed to wander in during such a morning. A shaft of light was shining directly on the entrance to the tomb, there was a soft chanting coming from the Armenian Orthodox section where a small service was going on, and an old woman who's language I couldn't speak made me touch the slab drenched in rose water, so my hand smelled like roses for the rest of the day. It was the one time I genuinely enjoyed being inside that church - and if you're lucky, you can find a day like that there too. Leave a Comment Directions: Old City Jerusalem
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